Trent Reznor Says YouTube Is “Built on the Backs of Free, Stolen Content”

TRENT REZNOR from NINE INCH NAILS is the Chief Creative Officer of Apple Music . . . so that puts him at odds with YouTube, which is owned by Google. And in a recent interview, he didn’t hold back.

He called YouTube “very disingenuous,” and said, quote, “It’s built on the backs of free, stolen content and that’s how they got that big. I think any free-tiered service is not fair . . . that’s how I feel about it. Strongly.”

He said Apple is trying to do the opposite, and be a place where an artist can get paid and control where their content goes.

Of course, YouTube disagrees. They shot back, saying they have lucrative licensing deals with labels in place, and have paid out more than $3 billion to the music industry, with amounts that are growing each year.